


Different Worlds

by mayers



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-11 10:53:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28470096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mayers/pseuds/mayers
Summary: Experiments and white walls. That’s all Carolyn had ever known for the first 18 years of her life. After using the gifts that had been the reason for her imprisonment, Carolyn escapes the laboratory in search of a home outside of all she’s ever known.
Relationships: Steve Harrington & Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

Refreshing cold pressed against Carolyn’s cheeks as she skittered off the bus she’d been sitting on for the better half of the afternoon. She’d hoped to get some sleep in on the journey into the chilly, almost dreamlike town of Hawkins, but she had been sitting stiff the entire time. 

She had been able to calculate that Fayborough, Kentucky was at least 300 miles away from here. It’d been a year and a half since she escaped. But still, Carolyn had to accept that she would never feel far enough away from the laboratory that she’d been imprisoned in for the first eighteen years of her life. She would eternally be uneasy. On edge.

She stood with crossed arms in the bus terminal, staring out the floor-to-ceiling window at the dead November leaves skimming the surfaces of roads and tops of buildings. The sun was about to set.

It was just as she’d expected. Enough people to make you feel like you weren’t sticking out, but not so many that it made you feel small. Not like Chicago. She felt swallowed up in the crowds there.

Kali had told Carolyn that she could get used to it in Chicago. That she had a place in her group. But as one of Carolyn’s gifts was the ability to protect and heal, carrying out violence, even though she felt she had been turned into a weapon trained to do so, even if it was against the men that made her life a living hell, felt against who she was. 

Kali said that if their way of life wasn’t for Carolyn, that she’d understand.

Despite the sentiment, the disappointment in Kali’s eyes was something Carolyn knew she wouldn’t soon forget. Carolyn was disappointed herself. 

Since she had been plotting her escape, Carolyn knew that there must’ve been another way to find justice. The first action was finding all the other gifted ones like her who had escaped. If there were any. The second was freeing those who hadn’t been so lucky. And the third was more of a hope than anything: forming some semblance of a family.

Her first success was tracking down Kali, as she skimmed through news articles and broadcasts throughout the country, hunting for anything, the smallest thing, out of the ordinary. Once she had found the phenomenon in Chicago where witnesses were claiming having seen things, outlandish things, that weren’t really there, Carolyn found her way to the city and finally found Kali. Her sister.

“So, let me get this straight,” the man who she later learned was named Axel had asked the first night that Carolyn met them. “You can heal people?”

Carolyn had looked down at the ‘003’ permanently on her wrist, nodding her head slowly.

“Yes, and protect. I can... produce a sort of... shield. And...” Carolyn began. “And I can... understand everything about something very quickly. I suppose it’s a kind of... photographic memory in a way. Without needing to read a manual.”

She struggled to fully explain it as she thought back to her upbringing in the lab. Being given different gadgets, different instruments, and feeling things click into place into her head, knowledge and skill filling her mind just by touching whatever lay in her hands.

She saw Axel looking at her marking, unsettled.

“Man, how many of you poor girls did those assholes keep?”

Through this whole exchange, Kali had silently been staring at Carolyn.

“Have you met others?” Carolyn’s eyes found Kali’s, excitement turning her stomach.

“There was one before you who found me,” Kali finally spoke. “A while ago. She’s younger. Jane. Number eleven.”

“Jane. Where is she now?” Carolyn assumed the worst.

“She... found a home,” Kali had answered. “Hawkins.”

Carolyn had spent a little less than three months with Kali and her group. She had used most of her time trying to convince Kali to go with her to the place called Hawkins, find Jane, find others if any more had escaped, free the rest, maybe have some chance of a normal life. 

But Kali said she had found her mission and she wasn’t leaving her friends nor Chicago until justice was served.

“Bloodshed is not justice,” Carolyn had explained to Kali. “Happiness is. We can find the rest of our family. Please, we can come together and find a way to free them all. Just one of us won’t be enough to help them. We have to be together. Then... we can get justice... revenge... your way. But first, can’t we find each other?”

“If you’re going to leave, I can’t stop you,” Kali had said. “And I can’t go with you but... come back. Alright? When you find Jane. I just... I have to stay here for now.”

Parting ways with Kali felt like it broke a piece of Carolyn’s heart. But as Carolyn got to know Kali, she was quick to detect the anger and bitterness that radiated from within her. 

Carolyn wished she could heal the wounds people held inside, too.

At the end, it was clear that their priorities were different. Carolyn wanted to find their family, and even though Kali did too, her first concern was punishing those who had separated them in the first place.

As Carolyn stood in the bus terminal facing the downtown strip of Hawkins, she recollected all that had happened in her time since escaping the laboratory.

It was a storm of running and searching and running some more. Finding odd jobs to make money and staying in dodgy motels and investigating until her hands were numb.

She clutched the handle of the ratty oversized messenger bag she’d found in a dumpster back in Fayborough. 

All that Carolyn had was in that bag: three changes of clothes, toiletries, an unloaded gun she had purchased in case she needed to scare anybody off, and $100 that the group back in Chicago gave her.

Kali had said giving her the money was the least they could do considering she had helped so much. To Carolyn, healing a few wounds and fixing a few broken weapons took only moments, but she realized that it meant a great deal to them.

Which only made leaving them feel that much worse.

Every one of Carolyn’s heartbeats felt sore as she realized she was completely alone yet again. Being with Kali, she had felt less empty... less incomplete.

She swallowed hard. She’d see them again. But now it was time to find Jane.


	2. Chapter 2

Carolyn found a motel for her first night in Hawkins and immediately retired to her temporary room, twenty less dollars in her pocket. After a cold shower, she lay in the dark, curled up on the bed and hugging the pillow tight to her chest as she stared ahead at the television screen. Static interrupted the program every so often, a show called Family Ties, as hot tears burned the corners of her eyes.

The screen radiated bright colors as happy looking characters spoke to each other and periodically paused to make room the sound of combined laughter. Carolyn drifted off to sleep, surely inviting another wave of nightmares of guards in white uniforms finding her and taking her back to hell.

Carolyn awoke in a gasp as she always did. Her eyes searched the small motel room as the memory settled in – she was in Hawkins. And as far as she knew, she was safe.

The firm, uncomfortable bed had left its mark on her, leaving Carolyn to sit up and twist to place her hand on the pulled muscle on her back and will the pain to go away. 

As she brushed her teeth and stared at her reflection, blonde shoulder-length locks slightly wobbling with every shake of her head, Carolyn felt the pain in her stomach moan for food. She sighed, using her gift to numb the pain there as well and knowing she couldn’t keep ignoring her hunger like this. 

She looked at her reflection again, ignoring the drop of blood from her nose, hazel eyes travelling down to her brown turtleneck sweater and jeans she had bought at a thrift store in Illinois. She realized her lack of proper meals had left her clothes fitting looser and her fatigue hitting her harder than ever before.

Carolyn found herself at a diner within Hawkins’ downtown strip soon that afternoon, scarfing down the Saturday Special. The waitress’s eyebrows raised the second time she came around, visibly shocked to see Carolyn’s plate empty so soon.

“Can I... get you anything else, hon?”

“May I please have another?”

Carolyn had spent some of her time on the run reading up on etiquette at restaurants, remembering how important ‘may’ and ‘please’ were. She wanted to fit in as best she could. Avoid raising any suspicions.

“Another water or...?”

Carolyn just pointed at the ketchup-stained plate.

“Oh... Alright, coming right up.”

So much for being ordinary.

“Is there...” Carolyn cleared her throat. “Is this business looking for more staff?”

“What, so you could eat all our food with a discount?” the woman laughed. Carolyn looked at her quizzically. “It was a joke.”

“Oh,” Carolyn said, attempting a laugh.

“I think we’ve got more hands on deck than we need.” Carolyn remembered the colloquial term from her studies. Hands on deck. It meant she wouldn’t be able to get a job here.

“I understand,” Carolyn mumbled.

“I’ll get you another special.”

Carolyn thanked the waitress and looked out the window to the bodies passing by. Most people weren’t alone, puffs of fog coming out of their mouths as they walked by and spoke to each other in the chilly air.

She felt another cutting twinge of loneliness, distracting herself by reminding herself of her plan. She had to find a job before the day’s end.

The sooner she could find a way to earn money, the sooner she would be able to buy more food and more nights at the motel, and the sooner she would be able to search for Jane.

Carolyn didn’t have any luck at the boutique across the street or the bakery down the way. She found her way to an arcade called The Palace, situated at the corner of a plaza. 

She stepped into the arcade, which was bustling with customers, mostly younger teens manhandling coin-ops and cheering each other on. The sounds of enthusiastic shouts and electronic drones and buzzes filled Carolyn’s ears. 

She explored the stuffy arcade, watching the games in astonishment. It seemed most of the patrons were kids that would be around Jane’s age, which rewarded Carolyn with a rush of optimism that she hadn’t felt in a long time.

Carolyn finally came across an older woman with thick glasses walking by, a t-shirt with the word ‘ARCADE’ echoed on it.

“Excuse me,” Carolyn said, extending a hand. The woman, looking confused, shook her hand. “Are you the supervisor here? I’m wondering if you’re hiring.”

“Oh, I’m afraid we have enough students, thanks. To be honest with you, we’re down to one guy in our maintenance staff,” the woman said and pointed a thumb behind her, “but I’m assuming that’s not your kind of gig.”

“Oh,” Carolyn felt excitement build in her chest. “I actually... do have experience.” It was a lie but once she spotted the clunky “Galaga” game that the woman had pointed to with a handwritten ‘Out of Order’ sign taped to the screen, she knew she could do it.

“Do you need some help with this one?”

Not waiting for approval, Carolyn eagerly paced to the game and placed her palms on the cold plastic cabinet, her mind immediately finding all the pieces of the machine coming together like a puzzle.

“Yeah, the graphics have been on the fritz for days and we can’t get our guy to look at it until next week.” The woman disappointedly looked at the game.

“So, it’s the monitor?” Carolyn said. She opened the side panel, fiddling with the circuits as if she’d done it a thousand times before. Soon enough, Carolyn powered the game, and the lights blinked on and off to reveal clear pixels under the ‘Out of Order’ sheet of paper. The woman peeled the sign off with an impressed laugh.

While the woman studied the machine, Carolyn had a chance to wipe away the dribble of blood from her nostril.

“Wow, you made that look easy. How’d you do that?”

Carolyn forcibly smiled, tucking a strand of wavy hair behind her ear. 

“I have experience with these games. I worked at an arcade in my old town,” she fibbed again. “I just moved here and I’m actually not a student right now so I’m available 24/7.”

“Well, I wouldn’t need you every hour but I appreciate the enthusiasm. I didn’t catch your name.”

“It’s Lyn,” Carolyn answered, hopeful a nickname would be enough to keep her undiscoverable.

“Lyn, I’m Virginia. Let me just chat with the general manager but I’d say you’re as good as hired. I’ll be right back.”

Carolyn smiled genuinely and nodded her head, rolling up her sleeves in hopes to cool herself down in the seemingly airless building as she waited for Virginia to return.

“Mike, Galaga’s finally running again!”

Carolyn’s eyes darted to the group of three boys and one girl as they crowded around the game. A small smirk grew on Carolyn’s face, pleased to see her help brought happiness to the kids’ days.

“Is my high score still in the system, though?” the boy Carolyn deduced was Mike asked. The group of friends ducked as they waited for the monitor to show them what they wanted to see.

“So, I hear you fixed this in a matter of seconds?” a startlingly loud voice said.

Carolyn snapped her gaze over to a moustached man who stood in front of her, next to Virginia.

“Yes,” she responded, looking over at the machine. She noticed the group of kids standing two feet away had overheard. Carolyn glanced at the machine with a tight smile and met the children’s gazes.

Except the dark-haired one named Mike wasn’t looking at Carolyn’s face. He was looking at her hands.

She glanced down to see that her thoughtlessly rolling up her sleeve exposed her ‘003’ marking. And the boy was unquestionably, without a doubt staring at it.


	3. Chapter 3

Carolyn’s heart dropped to her stomach, and she quickly pulled down her sweater sleeves before shaking the arcade’s manager’s hand.

“Yes, um, I was hoping to see if you have any open positions,” Carolyn said. She nervously looked over at the group of kids again, and this time, the one named Mike was staring at her with a stunned expression.

“If you can fix these things and keep them running, then we think so, too,” the man answered. “Come with me.”

Virginia gave Carolyn a thumbs up.

Carolyn couldn’t register any feeling of accomplishment as the mixture of fear and curiosity over the boy noticing her stained numbering took all of her attention.

“Of course,” Carolyn replied. At this point, the kids were sharing whispered statements, their gazes darting back and forth between each other and Carolyn.

Did those kids know about the program? Did they know Jane?

Carolyn could barely focus on what the manager who identified himself as Ken was saying as they sat in his office. He asked the standard interview questions she had been prepared for. Thankfully, she walked out with a job offer and the agreement to receive cash-only pay.

She was to start the next day at noon.

Carolyn nearly ran back to the main area of the arcade, searching through the crowds and cursing her 5’1’’ stature as she couldn’t see above many heads.

The curly-haired boy in the group she had seen before suddenly appeared before her with curious eyes under the thick-brimmed baseball hat.

“Hello,” he said.

Carolyn felt herself slightly shrink back in alarm.

“What’s your tattoo mean?” he asked in a tone that suggested he already knew.

Carolyn crossed her arms and saw the rest of the group of young teenagers huddled close by.

“Follow me,” she said.

Carolyn sped-walked to the wall of the arcade and found a free pocket of space. She swallowed hard as the kids huddled around her, three boys and one girl, all staring at her with expectant eyes.

“Do you know someone with a similar mark?” she asked.

“Stop, don’t say anything,” the boy that Carolyn remembered was called Mike said. It was in a tone that suggested he was repeating himself. 

“Mike,” the one who had approached her mumbled. “You really think-“

“We can’t trust anyone, Dustin,” he snapped back.

Carolyn watched, understanding that they surely knew Jane and were just trying to protect her. They continued to fight through whispers until Carolyn spoke up.

“I don’t want to hurt her,” she said. “I don’t want to hurt anyone. I’m... like her.” Carolyn held back the impulse to ask where Jane was. She had to gain their trust first. “She’s my sister. I’m just trying to find her.”

Mike looked at her, his dark hair nearly grown long enough to cover his eyes.

“You can ask me anything you want,” Carolyn offered.

“Fine,” Mike said. “How are you like her?”

“Well... okay. That game I fixed? I’ve never touched one of those things in my life,” Carolyn explained quietly. “I... I just hold something and I know the ins and outs of it. Everything about it. How to fix it. How to break it, if I want to.”

“Are you being serious?” the red-haired girl asked.

“Instantaneous comprehension,” the boy with the lisp said quietly in awe.

“I can also shelter and heal. Does... does anyone have some kind of injury?”

The red-haired girl brought her hand up to her face, studying her palm. Carolyn peered over, noticing a scrape that stretched across the heel of the girl’s hand.

“Do you want me to make it go away?” Carolyn softly asked.

“Max, I don’t know about this,” the boy who hadn’t spoken yet finally said.

The girl only looked at him, then at Carolyn, apprehensively presenting her injury to her. Carolyn searched their surroundings, ensuring nobody was paying attention to them, and stared at the wound, willing it to fade.

Carolyn wiped her nose.

If it weren’t already so loud in the arcade, Dustin would’ve caused all heads to turn with his shriek. The kids all formed a circle as they stared at the girl’s palm, clear of any markings.

“This is...” Mike mumbled, seemingly unable to find the right word. “Where were you? How did you... How did you know where El was?”

“I...” Carolyn didn’t know where to start. “Can we speak somewhere more private?”

“Next door,” Dustin said, his lisp prominent. “Maybe Steve’s working tonight. He’ll know what to do.”

“What’s next door?” Carolyn asked.

“Let’s go,” Mike said, glancing at his friends. “Quick. My dad’s picking us up soon.”

The kids quickly marched towards the entrance of the arcade. The red-haired girl continued to stare at her palm in amazement, shooting one last look at Carolyn before following them.

The next store over called ‘Family Video’ was much quieter than the arcade. That is, until Dustin ran to the front counter and feverishly rang the bell.

“Steve?” he shouted. “Dude, you here?”

Carolyn’s eyes explored the shop to notice one woman in one of the aisles, clearly irritated by the ringing.

“Relax, relax, I’m coming,” a voice said. An older boy about Carolyn’s age sauntered up to the other side of the counter. “Who let you in here?”

Carolyn met the stranger’s brown eyes. Nerves filled her stomach, conjuring a feeling she wasn’t used to. She had never felt this kind of nervous.

She glanced at his tag on his black t-shirt. Steve.

The neon sign behind him buzzed.

“Dude,” Dustin said in a hushed tone, pointing a finger in Carolyn’s direction. “She’s like El.”

“What do you mean like El?” he asked.

Carolyn realized that within a matter of minutes, five strangers were privy to her gifts. She nervously shifted her weight.

“Like, she can... do stuff with her mind. But she’s Three.”

“Huh?” Steve mumbled.

“Excuse me.”

Carolyn turned to see that the voice had come from the woman she’d seen earlier behind her with a stack of VHS tapes. 

Carolyn stepped out of the way, allowing the customer to make her way to the counter. Steve was clearly distressed, sneaking glances at Carolyn and quickly ringing the woman through and putting the tapes in a plastic bag. The exchange only took a minute, but to Carolyn, it felt like ages. She was finally closer to finding Jane, and everything that got in the way felt like a massive disturbance.

When Carolyn watched the door close behind the woman, leaving the small store empty of customers, she looked back at Steve, whose gaze was on her before it snapped to Dustin. 

“Okay, say that one more time,” Steve stated.

“Dude, she just made Max’s scrape disappear,” Dustin said, pointing to Max.

“How about we stop talking about her like she’s not here?” He fixed his eyes on Carolyn again. “Hi. I'm Steve.”

“Carolyn,” she stated, stepping forward. “But I... just tell strangers to call me Lyn.”

“Can you... explain what’s going on better than Henderson?”

Steve rested his elbows and forearms on the counter, leaning forward. Carolyn felt all eyes on her.

“I came looking for... El. Like you said...” Carolyn motioned to the younger boy, her voice low. “Dustin, right?”

He nodded.

“Like Dustin said, I’m like her.”

“And you... escaped?” Mike asked.

“I did.” Carolyn glanced down at the flattened carpeting, recalling the weeks of planning and the most frightening night of her life. “There’s a lab here in Hawkins, isn’t there?”

She was met with more nods.

“I’m just trying to save my brothers and sisters. I wanted to meet Jane. El.”

“And do what?” Mike asked.

“Save the rest of us,” Carolyn admitted. “There are some still locked up. We don’t deserve to live like this.”

“Save them? By what, going right to those- to those labs? Right to the assholes who keep you guys there?” Mike said in a biting tone. “How safe can that be? And you want El to join you?”

“Ease up, man,” Steve interrupted. “Sorry, he’s protective. Obviously.”

Carolyn took a moment to let the feeling of being protected to sink in, even if it were the smallest gesture.

“I don’t want to put anyone in danger,” Carolyn said quietly, crossing her arms over her chest. She was glad to see Jane was so clearly loved, and Carolyn admittedly yearned to feel the same. “I just want us to be free. To live our lives. That’s all.”

“How did you find where El was?”

“Was?” Carolyn asked, arms dropping to her sides. “Is she alright?”

“Yeah,” Mike replied, rushed. “How did you find her?”

“I did research.” Carolyn omitted the part about Kali, afraid to compromise her. “I’ve been out for almost two years now. Just searching.”

The sound of the door swinging open interrupted them and Carolyn snapped her attention over to the front of the store, sure she was found, sure she’d be dragged back to her prison.

Thankfully, it was a balding man who didn’t seem very threatening. Dark, wet marks peppered his beige jacket and Carolyn quickly realized it had begun raining outside. She looked at the large windows facing the parking lot to see growing puddles in the dips of the concrete.

“Mike, you said you’d be at the arcade,” he huffed, arm signalling in the direction of the arcade, keys cupped in his hand.

“Crap,” Mike whispered. “Uh...”

The man met eyes with Carolyn, seeming briefly confused to see an addition to what Carolyn assumed was a fairly exclusive group, but he quickly lost interest and tilted his head to motion to them to go.

She stiffened, concerned of just how many people here were to learn who she was. What she was. She didn’t want this man to be number six.

Thankfully, her fears weren’t realized once the young kids started to scatter out of the video store. They all seemed to look at Carolyn with concerned expressions.

“I’ll... I’ll be at the arcade tomorrow, okay?” Carolyn softly reassured. “Noon.”

She was met with nodding heads again, except for Mike’s, and watched the kids funnel out of the store and into the evening’s dusk.

Carolyn chewed on the corner of her bottom lip, turning her attention back to the boy behind the counter.

They stared at each other in silence.


End file.
